My Trip Through Dell Hel

Question

It all started over a month ago when my Inspiron 8600 would not power up. Whenever I would plug in the adapter plug, the green LED on the adapter would go off. I would have to unplug the adapter from the wall to get it to reset so that the LED would come on next time. I ordered a new adapter but the computer would still not come on and the LED would go off when the adapter was attached. I sent the computer in for repair and paid around $200 up front just to send it in (yes, it was out of warranty). I received a call several days after mailing it and was advised that it needed the motherboard replaced and it would be an additional $300. I gave them the OK to fix it and a few days later my credit card was billed  $300. After about one week, I called about its status and was told 'it looks like they are getting it ready for shipment right now'. After a couple more days it arrived--NOT REPAIRED. The note with it said that the repair had not been authorized and it sat on their shelf for four days--the maximum before they returned it. My credit card had been billed for the replacement of the motherboard one week before that. After spending another 40 minutes on the phone trying to get them to straighten things out, I had to send it in again. Why didn't anyone catch this when I called about its repair status? They only told me it was being shipped and failed to mention that they didn't even repair it. When I got it back and started it up, I got a message saying that the adapter type was not known. It asked if I wanted to go into setup or ignore the message or I could press F3 and never see the message again. There were no settings for the adapter type in the setup--only an indication that the type was unknown. Their troubleshooting steps led to the adapter again. I'm hesitant to order one since I've already ordered one before and then returned it because it didn't fix the original problem. Now that I've used it on battery power, it has another problem which it didn't have until Dell 'repaired' it. The battery doesn't charge. The charge indicator doesn't light and the battery has only 7% left. Between all these problems and having to talk to people in India who I can't understand, I will NEVER buy another Dell product again. Ordering is a breeze but pray that you never have a problem and have to call for help. I can't begin to guess how many hours I've spent on the phone over these problems or how many times I've said 'Could you repeat that? I'm sorry but can't understand what you're saying'.

snapohead · Answer

Not good! The reason your battery won't charge is because it doesn't recongize your adapter, inturn not allowing the adapter to charge the system. Now given that you've paid for the MB, it should be new and not refurbished, so this shouldn't be the source of your problem. I would lean towards the adapter as the source of your problem. I'm guessing you don't have access to another one to test with. Perhaps your only solution would be to purchase another one, and if it doesn't fix your problem, return it again. But I am quite sure this is the source of your problem.

Locked Topics – Laptops General

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